Better late then never. Yes, I know, I should have posted how well(or not) I actually ended up doing in my leagues right when it all ended. But I'm doing it now! I"ll split this up into 2 separate parts, one for each league.
Standard League
I made the play-offs as the last seed. The way this system works can get a little goofy at times. The top record from each division gets in and gets a bye in the first round of the play-offs. Then the rest of the teams get seeded based on record, not division rank. I'm not going to complain that I have a tough division, but every team from my division made it in. Only the Division winner made it in from the other one. I had to win my last few games to get in and I was able to. Then some tough decisions had to be made.
After getting into the play-offs, one of my studs got himself injured. Adrian Peterson. I'm really happy that I didn't NEED him to win, of course it may have helped. I rode the first few wins on the back of Arian Foster from Huston. He was probably the best pick of my Draft if I had to pick just one, late in the Draft and having already picked a good stable of well known running backs, I had my eye on Foster going in. I was relying heavily on the play of Philip Rivers, the QB from San Diego. Not sure what happened down the stretch, but he came up short and had a few bad games, just shear luck that he didn't cost me any wins.
The tough part was deciding to sit or start Peterson. During the first week of the play-offs, Peterson was hurt but all signs pointed to him starting that week so I plugged him in and didn't think twice. Then came game time late Monday Night and there he sat on the bench and in my starting line-up. I looked at my computer screen in almost disbelief that my number one pick would not be playing. At this point I had already won the game and any points from Peterson would not have helped anything. But what about next week? As I researched my line up for the following week, I left Peterson on the bench and put in Mendenhall from Pittsburgh and was able to pull out another win as I watched the Vikings stadium collapse and the game get moved to a Tuesday night.
Through all this, I was able to get into the Finals. The big money game. Winner takes $200 and loser gets $100, so I can guaranteed at the very least $100, but who wants to settle? I researched my line up once again and put my best team forward, at least I thought I did. I could have changed out a couple of guys an not much would have changed. There was one little thing that no one could have foreseen. I had to choose between two Defences that week, Green Bay and Arizona. I went with Green Bay, after all they were playing the Giants and Eli Manning was on a INT streak like no other. I figured at least one of those would come back for a score. I started Green Bay and didn't even think twice about it. Well, I'm sure many of you know what happened next. Yep, Arizona went on to score over 20 points that week, returning 2 INTs for scores and racking up the sacks. Green Bay did well, just didn't score.
This is what did me in. This was the tough choice I made and stick by it. I didn't start Peterson that week, even tough he played, but it didn't matter, he didn't score enough to make a difference. It all came down to needing 12 points from my kicker on Monday Night. It could have happened, but Atlanta played all its starters and of course got all the touchdowns it wanted and no Field Goals(that I needed). Who could have thought Arizona DEF would score more then Green Bay? I didn't.
But, I came in second, which given how tough it was to even make the play-offs, is nothing to shake a stick at. I was able to get a few post-season wins, which I had been lacking in the last several seasons. I've only missed out on the play-offs once, but haven't won a play-off game since the last time I won it all, I can't even remember how long ago that was.
Every time I log back onto the website and check the forums or the news, I always take a few seconds and look at my team page and think of what might have been. I have hope for next season. Just when you think all the sleepers are having break out years, there is always that 1 guy that no one is thinking about that can lead your team to victory. Just have to find him then keep my mouth shut about it until after the Draft, HAHA!
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